Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-12-22

L
this, / felt that / could die with a light
heart, and then everything became blank.
/ When next / awoke the first thing | saw
| was the round disc Of a sympathetic eye
glass, behind which was Good.
! How are you getting on old chap?" said
voice from the neighborhood of the eye
/ glass.
what are you doing here?" I asked
| family. You ought to be at NJ Arstuna-
have you run away, or what?"
| IN Arstuna," he replied, cheerfully.
"Ah, M'Arstuna fell last week-you' We
been unconscious for fortnight, You see
with all the honorS Of war, you know,
| trumpets blowing, flags flying. just as
| though they had the best Of it, but for all
that weren't thev clad to 90. Israel made
for his tents, I can IeIi you-never saw such
| O. sight in my life"
| And Sorais?" [ asked.
| ''Sorais-oh, Sorais is q prisoner; they
| gave her UP, the ScOundrelS,' he added,
| with q change of tone-"sacrificed the
| Queen to save their skins, you see. She is
what will happen to her, poor soulP' and
| he sighed.
where is Curtis?" asked.
"He is with Nyleptha She rode oct to
meet US to-day, and there was q grand to
| do, can tell you. He is coming to see you
| tomorrow; the doctors (for there is a med
| ical faculty. in Zu-Vendis as elsewhere)
| thought that he had better not come to-
| day."
said nothing, but somehow I thought
| to myself that Notwithstanding the doctors
| he might Gve give ne look; but there,
| whena man Is newly married apd has just
| gained a great victory he is apt to listen to
! the advice of doctors, and quite right, too.
| Just then | heard q familiar voice in
| forming me that Monsieur must now
| couch HIMSELF, and looking up perceived
| AlphonSe'S enormous black mustachios
| ourling away in the distance.
| $50 you are here?' | said.
| ''MaiS Oui, Monsieur; the war is now fln-
! fshed, my military instincts are satisfied,
| and return to nurse Monsieur
/ laughed, or rather tried to: but what
| ever may have been AlphCnse's faiingS as
warrior land / fear that lie did NOS come
| up to the level Of his heroic grandfather i'll
| this particular, showing thereby how true
| is the saving that it is q bad thing to be
| overshadOwed by some great ancestral
| name) q better or q kinder nurse never
| lived. Poor AlDhOnse! / hope he will al
| ways think o. me as Kindly Us think Of
| him.
On the morrow / saw Curtis, and Nylep-
| tina with him, and he told me the whole
history of what had happened since UNI
| slOpOgaas and | gallOped wildly away from
| the battle to save the life of the Queen. It
seemed to me that he had managed the
| thing exceedingly well, and showed great
| ability as q general OF course, however
| our loss had been dreadfully heavy--in-
| deed. am afraid to say how many perish
| ed in the desperate battle have described
| but [ know that the slaughter has aDpreci-
| ably affected the male population of the
country: He was very pleased to see me,
| dear fellow that he was, and thanked me
| with tears in his eyes for the little [ had
| been able to do. [ saw him, however,
start violently when his eyes fell upon my
| face.
AS for Nyleptha, she was positively radi-
| ant now that cher dear lord' had come
| back with no other injury than an ugly
| scar on his forehead. l do not believe that
| she allowed all the fearful slaughter that
had taken place to weigh ever SO little in
| the balance against this one fact, or even
| to greatly diminish her joy; and [ cannot
| blame her for it, seeing that it is the ma
| ture Of loving woman to look at all things
| through the spectacles Of her love, and lit
| tie does she reCk Of the misery Of the many
| II the happiness of the one be assured.
| Ihat<iS human nature, which the POsitiv
| lists tell us is just perfectiOn-so no doubt
| it is all right
"And what art thou going to dc with So
rais?" / asked her.
| Instantly her bright brow darkened to a
| frown.
''Sorais,'' she said, with little stamp OF
| the foot, "ah, but Soraisp'
| Sir Henry FASTENED to turn the subject.
| you will soon be about and all right
| again now, OLD Fellow" he said.
| | shook my head and laughed
Don't deceive yourselves" [ said. 81
may be about for little, but shall never
| be all right again. [ am dying man,
| Curtis. | may die slow, but die | must.
| Do you know, have been splitting blood
all the morning. 1 tell you, there is some
thing working away into 1ay lung. l can
feel it. There, don't look distressed;
| have had my day, and am ready to go.
| Give me the mirror, will you? [ want to
| look at myself"
He made some excuse but [ saw through
it and insisted, and at last he handed me
| one of the discs of polished silver set in a
wooden frame like a hand-screen, which
| serve as lOoking-glasSeS in Zu-Vendis. I
| looked and put it down
''Ah," said quietly, IT thought so, and
you talk Of my getting all rightn' [ did
| not like to let them see how shocked real
ly was at my own appearance. My griz-
| zled, stubby hair was turned snOWWhite,
| and my yellow face was shrunk like an
aged woman's. and had two deep, purple
rings painted beneath the eyes
| Here Nyleptha began to cry and Sir
Henry again turned the subject, telling me
/ that the artists had taken a cast of the
| dead body Of old UmslopOgaas, and that
great statue in black marble was to be
| erected of him in the act of splitting the
| sacred stone, which was to be matched by
/ another statue in white marble of myself
and the horse Daylight as he appeared
| when, at the termination of that wild ride,
| he sank beneath me in the courtyard Of
| the palace. Ihave since seen these statues,
which at the time of writing this, six
months after the battle, are nearly finished,
and very beautiful they are, especially that
of Umslopogaas, which is exactly like him.
| AS for that of myself. it is good, but they
| have idealized my ugiy face little, which
| is, perhaps, as well, seeing that thousands
| Of people will probably look at it in the
centuries to come, and it is not pleasant to
| look at ugly things.
Then they told me that Umslopogaas'
| last wish had been carried out, and that,
| instead Of being cremated, as I shall be
after the usual custom here, he had been
| tied up, Zulu fashion, with his knees be-
| meath his chin, and, having been wrapped
| in q thin sheet of beaten gold, entombed
| in hole followed out of the masonry of
the semi-circular space at the top of the
| stair he defended so splendidly, which
faces as far as we can judge, almost eXz
actIy toward ZuIuIand. There ne SITS, and
will sit forever, for they embalmed him
with spices, and put him in an air-tight
Golfer, keeping his grim watch beneath the
| spot he held alone against a multitude;
| L = 49,